A C I 



A C I 



ACHTIRKA, a town of RufTia, in tlie government of 

 Chirkov> ten Germnn miles W. S. W. of Charkov. 



ACHTUBA, a river of RiilTu, w'nich rifes from the 

 Volga, a little above the town of T<; iiitzin, and runs pa- 

 rallel with that liver to Krafnoijar, near which place it joins 

 it, and Hows with it into the Cafpian Sea. 



ACHY, a fpecies of Cassia, that grows in Arabia. 



ACFIYR, in Gogrnphy, a ftron;^ town and caille of the 

 T^krain, fubjccl to the Rnflians fince 1667. It Hands on 

 the river UorfKolo, near the frontiers of RufHa, 127 miles 

 weft of Kiow. E. \on%. 36^ o'. N. lat. 4.9° 7,2'. 



ACHYRACANTHA, in Botany, a name given by 

 Dillenius to the Ach vrantmks of Linnsus. 



ACHYR ANTHA, a fpecies of Illeckbrum. 



ACHYRANTHES, formed of c^yj^.p,, chnff, and a/Vo,-, 

 a floiaer, in Botany, a genus of the pentantlria m-mogyriia 

 Cull's of plants, belonging to the natural order of mi/cc'lctm-ie 

 Ijinn. and of (imara::tl.n Jufl". The characters are theie : 

 The calyx confifts of an outer perianlhium, that is tnree- 

 Icaved, lanceolate, acute, permanent ; and of an inner one, 

 that is five-leaved and permanent : it has no corolla ; the 

 neft.irium has five valves, furrounding the germ, bearded at 

 the tip, concave and caducous : the itamina are filiform fila- 

 ments, of the length of the corolla, and the anthers are 

 ovate and incumbent : the piliilhim has a fuperior turbinate 

 germ ; the ilyle is filiform, of the length of the ftamens, and 

 the ftigma is bifid and villous : the pericarpium is a capfule, 

 roundirti, one-celled, not gaping ; and the feed is fingle and 

 oblong. There are eleven fpecies, I'lz. I. afjicra, or 

 rough, of which there are two varieties ; the Sicilian plant 

 with oblong pointed leaves, growing near three feet high, 

 and the Indian, found in Malabar, Ceylon, Jamaica, and 

 almo'.l every where within the tropics, with broader leaves, 

 and on both fides fmooth and green, cultivated here in 

 1713: 2. hippacea, or burry, a lofty plant, a native of 

 Malabar and Ceylon, cultivated by Mr. Miller in 17J9: 

 3. mur'icata or prickly, a native of India, introduced in 

 '777' '^y ^^- Thouin : /^. patida or fprcading : 5. altcrni- 

 folia or alternate-leavcd ; both natives of the Eaft Indies : 6. 

 corymhoja, formerly belonging to the Ctl-.Jia of I^inna:us, a 

 native of Ceylon : 7. dichrAoma, a native of Virginia : 8. 

 praflra'.a, a native of India: 9. n'lvea or white, a native of 

 the Canary iflands, introduced liere in 1780, by Mr. Maflon, 

 and flowering from May to July: 10. ahlffima or tall, 

 climbing up trees to the height of twenty feet, common 

 about Kpanifh-town and Kingilon, in Jamaica, and in the 

 woods of Domingo, and called by Browne bnftard lioop- 

 v/iihe.: li.polyganoides, found in Arabia andMakbar. Gmelin 

 enumerates fixtcen fpecies ; adding the pappofa, v'lil'ifa, or 

 Illecebrum lanatum,pnn'icnlatj,capitaia, and decumleiis^iiowi 

 Forfl<. ji. (tg. Aral. The fcveral fpecies have little beauty, 

 and arc only preferved in botanic gardens. 



ACHYRONIA, in Botany, a name given by Van 

 Royen to a genus of plants called by Linn;eus Aspa- 



tATHUS. 



ACHYROPHORUS, the name given by Vaillant to 

 the HvpocHOERis of Linnscus. 



ACirZIB, or Achazib, in Scripture Geography, a town 

 of Galilee, in the tribe of Aflier, nine miles from Ptolcmais; 

 probably the fame with that called by the Greeks Ecd'ippa; 

 alfo, a town in the more fouthern parts of the tribe of 

 Judah. 



A CIA, formed of the vernacular name Aaova in Guiana, 

 in h'ltany, a genus of the Mmadelph'ut dodecandr'ia clafs, 

 and natural order di pomdcat. Its charafters arc : the calyx 



is a one-leafed, turbinate, curved perianthlum, with a five- 

 parted border, the parts roundifh and fpreading, the upper- 

 mod and two lowell larger, the two middle ones fm;dler : 

 the corolla has five, oblong, rounded petals ; tlic three upper 

 lo'ig*!") afccndiiig ; the two lower fliorter : the ilamina con- 

 fill of twelve uneq.'.al (ilvments, uniting at bottom in a 

 linear flediy membra. ic, inferted into tlie calyx b' t^vecn the 

 two fmaller petals ; the anthers are roundifh and fniall : the 

 piillUum has an ov.ite geniien, above the bafe adlitring by 

 the membrane of the tlaniina to a rib intennlly promnient 

 from the bottom of the calyx ; the ilyle filiform and curved ; 

 the iligm.i acute : the pericarpium is an ovate, fibroiis, 

 chinked, large drupe : the feed is an ovate nut, with a 

 brittle (hell. There is one fpecies, wliich is a tree, whofc 

 trunk is fixty feet high, and three or four feet in diameter, 

 covered with a fmooth grey bark ; the fruit is of the fize of 

 a walnut, inclofing a large kernel, of an agreeable tafle, and 

 eaten by the Creoles wlien brought to market in Augu!l at 

 Cayenne ; they alfo extnift an oil from it, as fweet as thit 

 of almonds ; the wood is hard and heavy, and of a yellowifh 

 white colour. 



AciA, a term in the Roman Surgery, concerning the 

 meaning of which phyficinns and commentators are mucli 

 divided. Celfus, fpeaking of the healing of wounds, cither 

 by future, or by the fibula, fays, each is bell elfecfted by 

 means of a foft acia, not too much twilled, tiiat it may 

 fit the eafier on the body. Boxhornius will hare the acia to 

 be the acus of the fibula, or that part which is pinched : in 

 which view, acia mollis only imported, that it was not fet 

 fo as to pinch too much. 



ACICOCA, in Botany, an herb that grows in Peru, and 

 is fometimes ufed indead of the herb Paraguay, of which 

 it is faid to have all the properties. 



ACICULA, in NiUund Htjhry, a fpecies of BiTCl- 

 NUM, with a fmooth, fubulated, very thin (hell, tranf- 

 verfely ilriated with contiguous fpiral windings. It is found 

 in frei'h waters. Acicula is alfo a fpecies of Helix, with 

 an oblong acuminated fliell, longitudinally ribbed and tranf- 

 verfely ftriated, and an oval aperture ; found in Coromandel. 



ACICULA denote finall fpikes, or prickles, in form 

 of needles, with which nature has armed feveral animals and 

 plants. 



ACID, in Chcmlfli-y, is ufed in common language 

 as a generic name for all thofe fubflances which impiefs 

 the organs of talle with a fharp lour fenfation. Since, 

 however, there are certain bodies dellitute of \\\\i pro- 

 perty, which neverthelefs are clalfed by all chemical writers 

 as acids, this popular characleriitic muft be abandoned 

 as eflential, for one which is more comprehenfive. 



Newton's well known definition of an acid, " that which 

 " flrongiy attrads, and is ftrongly attracled," would have 

 required notice only in the hiilory of chemical opinions, if it 

 had not been implicitly adopted by one of the ablell chemiils 

 of the prefent age, Cit. Guyton Morvcau. (Diet. Method, 

 art. aci.h) " Now if any one lliould aflc me," fays he " what 

 " is an acid, I reply, it is that which of all p.ilpable fub- 

 " ftances is the moll pov.crful folvent ; that which aifls on 

 " the greated number of other bodies; that, as Newton has 

 " fo well cxpreffed it, which ftrongly attracts, and is 

 " ftrongly attracled." It is a greater fault for a definition 

 to be too comprehenfive than too circumfcribcd, and that 

 wh ch has been jud quoted not only includes alkalies as 

 well as acids, as indeed Morvcau allows, but all the a.flivc 

 chemical agents, J\ich as water, alcohol, hydrogen, oxvgen, 

 &:q. for they are all powerful folvents, acl ou a great num- 

 2 bcr 



